


All In a Day's Work

by Liberte_Egalite_Broadway



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love these two beautiful wives, Magic, Not Beta Read, Podcast WLW Week, Post-Season/Series 02, Second Citadel (Penumbra Podcast), They are so happy together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18458432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liberte_Egalite_Broadway/pseuds/Liberte_Egalite_Broadway
Summary: "There is no such thing as 'bring your wife to work' day," Caroline huffed."Sweets, any day is bring your wife to work day if I say it is."





	All In a Day's Work

**Author's Note:**

> I end podcast WLW week where I began it: with a Penumbra fic. The collection stays open until April 15th if you guys want to post, but I'm tuckered out and need a break. 
> 
> After this I'm going to take a little break from fanfic to work on my original stuff. 
> 
> disclaimer: usually I feel like I'm pretty good at adopting a character's voice. but caroline and damien were SO HARD. I'm really similar to a lot of the Juno Steel characters (especially Peter and Juno) so I find them pretty easy, but I don't have a lot in common with the SC characters. So if it sounds a little OOC i apologize. hopefully it's good though. it was fun to write.

Sir Caroline looked forward to her time in the armory each morning. It was a half-hour to herself, time for meditation and work and, best of all, silence. 

She sat on one of the carved wooden benches with her sword across her lap and a whetstone in her hand. Light streamed through the stained-glass window, dappling the stone floor beside her feet, like a puddle lapping her toes. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun. When she opened them again, her lips moved in silence, reciting the motto written on the window: "Strength in unity." 

Moments of silence and calm were as important to a knight as strength and courage. They allowed her to think over the day before her. And more importantly, they allowed her a much-needed break from the very loud personalities that she worked with. She looked forward to enjoying that break this morning before walking to the palace for her daily assignment. That is until the door swung open. 

"Ah, Sir Caroline!" exclaimed a familiar voice. "I did not know you were in here, although I should have expected it. You with your sharp instincts honing your sharper blade - always one for early rising, my friend!"

Caroline tried not to sigh. "Hello, Damien," she said. "How are you."

"Oh, well, well." Damien crossed the armory to the small shrine below the window and knelt. Caroline breathed a sigh of faint relief.  _If he's praying, he can't talk._

She went back to sharpening her sword. In her mind, she ran through the things she had left to do. After getting her assignment from Queen Mira, she had to check in at the stables. And after that, before she went home, she had to stop by the market and buy the things her wife wanted her to get. 

Quanyii wasn't technically her wife. Not legally. But they referred to each other that way anyway. They were close enough that they might as well be. They were in love and they lived together. And that shopping list was significantly longer than she'd wanted it to be, so if she wasn't able to find everything, Quanyii would just have to understand -

"Amen." Across the armory, Damien stood up. He walked over to Caroline and sat on the bench across from hers. "You seem very intent, friend Caroline. Is something on your mind?"

Sir Caroline heaved a deep sigh. "Yes, Damien," she said towards the floorboards. He watched her, but she didn't elaborate. 

"Perhaps that is understandable," he replied. "After all, you have been working yourself very hard lately." 

"As if there were any other way for knights to work," she commented, and he nodded without looking at her. Caroline's brow furrowed as she thought of something. "In fact," she said, "I've noticed you're spending much more time in the jungle." 

"Ah!" Damien laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. He shifted slightly in his seat, facing away from Caroline and towards the stained glass window. "Our saints _gave_ us this citadel," he said. "As knights, we must protect it! And, what better way for-for a knight to protect the citadel than by slaying monsters? Why - I see it as my greatest calling to fight monsters! And where else to go than the jungle? After all-"

"Sir Damien, I don't mean to sound rude, but did you come in here to tell me something? If not, I should be on my way. I have a busy day ahead of me."

"Oh, yes. I nearly forgot." Damien nodded and picked up his quiver. "A friend of yours is waiting outside the armory. However, as she is not a member of the knighthood, I could not permit her to enter."

Caroline frowned. "A friend? Who..."  _Of course. Quanyii._ She felt a jolt of fear cut through her. Quanyii knew the risks of visitng Caroline at work. But why hadn't Damien recognized her? "Very well. Thank you, Damien. I'll leave you to your weapons." 

"Yes, alright. Have a blessed day, friend Caroline."

Caroline strode down the corridor from the armory and threw open the door to the town square. Here, citizens and knights bustled against each other and through stands, shops, and other assorted buildings. The doorway to the knights' armory was at the very edge of the castle wall, and so Caroline stepped right into the crows and turned to her left. Sure enough, a huddled figure sat on the bench there. It was a face the knight had never seen before, but a person she most certainly had. The woman lifted her head and smiled. "Why, my oh my," she crooned. "How _strong_ and _handsome_ you look in that shiny shiny uniform." Her face was a stranger's, but Caroline would recognize those eyes anywhere. She had to hand it to her wife  - Quanyii's disguise magic was really incredible. 

"You wanted to see me," Caroline replied, letting her tone convey her displeasure. 

"Oh, yes, sweets! But first, I'm very overheated. Would you show me a patch of shade?"

"Have you tried sitting under that awning?"

"Somewhere priiiiiiivate?" Quanyii batted her eyelashes. Caroline rolled her eyes and turned on her heel. 

"Fine." 

Sir Caroline used her clearance as a knight to bring Quanyii through the gate and into the castle library. They retreated to a corner of dull, dusty history books that no one ever read, and once she was certain they were alone, Caroline whirled on her wife. 

"What were you thinking? Suppose you had been recognized?!" 

"Recognized? By who?" Quanyii giggled and spread her arms wide. "No one's ever seen me like this before, hon. Not even me! I saw that big softy, what's his name, Angelo, and he walked right past me. You're such a worry-wart." 

"Nevertheless, it was a great risk. And for what? You know you can't visit me while I'm working." 

"Today I can!" Quanyii flung herself dramatically over one of the lounge chairs nestled in a corner between two shelves. A cloud of dust fluttered around her, caught briefly in the sunlight from a window. "Today," she announced, "Is bring your wife to work day."

Caroline pressed her lips together to hide her smile. Quanyii's facial expressions and demeanor never changed. No matter how much she disguised herself, Caroline would always recognize those. If she weren't so annoyed she'd be amused. But she was annoyed. Definitely. 

"There is no such thing as 'bring your wife to work' day," Caroline huffed.

"Sweets, any day is bring your wife to work day if I say it is." 

"But-"

"I'm LOOOONELY!" Quanyii forced out a few dramatic tears and dabbed them away on her fingers. "I miss you SO much when I'm at home all by myself! Can't I just have  _one day_ to spend all with my wife? To see you swing your sword around at some practice dummies? To walk in the marketplace with you? Pleeaaaaase?" When Caroline didn't answer, Quanyii got up and kissed her with such sweetness and passion that Caroline wondered vaguely if she was put under some kind of spell. Or maybe her wife was just that amazing. She couldn't tell.

"Fine," she said. " _Fine_. Just this one time." 

Quanyii giggled and wrapped her arms around one of Caroline's. "Great! Let's go." 

 

Caroline took her to the sparring ring. 

She introduced her as a distant cousin, visiting from outside the citadel, and she told her to sit on the bench and stay put while she fought. Her opponent was Sir Owen, a competent knight, but fairly new. He liked to make himself feel better about his accomplishments by laughing at hers as he perceived them. She bowed slowly, without breaking eye contact, then threw herself fully into the fighting. She wanted to put this man in his place.  _I am your Inspector General_ , said the clang of her blade as his eyes filled with fear.  _I am a stronger knight than you_ , said the shuffle of her feet as she danced through the ring.  _I am a woman,_ said the labored heaving of her breath. 

But mostly she wanted to show off for her wife. 

Quanyii giggled and clapped her hands as Caroline turned away from the man collapsed on the floor of the ring. Caroline wiped her sweaty forehead on her shirt and climbed out of the ring, straining with exertion and beaming with triumph. "Oooh," Quanyii sighed. "You really got him good, huh?" Leaning closer, she whispered, "You are sotough when you want to be."

"You're very affectionate today, cousin," replied Caroline with a pointed look. 

She took her to the Queen's study, which was more casual than someone might expect. Mira believed that both ceremony and accessibility were important for a queen. Thus, knights could come and go to her study whenever they liked. She smiled at Quanyii over the stacks of paper neatly lined on her desk. "All family of Sir Caroline's are welcome here," she said. "Tell me, what kingdom do you harken from?"

"Uh," said Quanyii. "Uh... Sildonia?"

"I see," said Mira. She gave Caroline an amused glance that suggested she did, in fact, see. "Well, Sir Caroline, I have no missions for you today. Damien may frequent the jungle these days, but I really see no threats. At least, nothing out of the ordinary." 

"That's so good." Quanyii shuddered. "The thoughts of all those scary  _monsters_ , so close to your citadel? Oh, it's just too much to bear! How's a girl supposed to sleep at night, knowing a beast could just snatch her from her bed?"

"We all sleep soundly thanks to the protection of knights like your..." Mira smirked. "Cousin."

"And will continue to do," said Caroline, and she kissed Mira's ring. "My queen." They left the study. Once the door was closed, Quanyii took Caroline's arm again and pouted. 

"Why did you kiss her hand?" she asked. "You never kiss  _my_ hand." 

"It's a ceremonial gesture." Caroline quirked a smile. "Why, are you jealous?"

"Jealous?  _Me?_ No, but it looked oh-so-pretty and romantic. Please do it to me as soon as we get home."

"I'll try to remember that." 

She took her to her personal office. With the door closed, Caroline let Quanyii rifle through the drawers and study the maps with charmed fascination. The office looked exactly how it always looked, but Quanyii was seeing it. That made it different. Under her wife's observation, Caroline saw that the sunlight had faded the left side of her citadel map, that her rug was the same color as the tea she liked to drink, that if she stood on the desk chair, her head would almost touch the ceiling. 

"Your office is so cute!" Quanyii chirped. 

"It's functional." Caroline put her hands on her hips and surveyed it. "Well, yes, it is a little cute. I suppose." 

She took her to the market and let her pick out the vegetables they'd make into soup at home. Caroline turned a sweet potato way and that, checking for rot; Quanyii selected the first one she touched because "look how it's shaped like a crescent moon!". They exceeded the shopping list as loaves of bread, bottles of wine, jars of herbs, and one especially large radish crowded for room in Caroline's basket. 

"Cousin," said Caroline as she held the door to the apothecary open. "You don't need all this yarrow." 

"I need it."

"But -"

Quanyii shot her a distinctly witchy look. "I  _need_ it."

Finally, around midafternoon, they returned home. Caroline took the normal method of riding a horse there. Quanyii went into a back alley in a different part of the citadel and made a portal to bring herself in. "Well!" she said, throwing back her hood. When she shook out her hair, it looked like her hair again. "Bring your wife to work day is a great day, huh?" 

"Quanyii, I don't want you to ever take that kind of risk again. Especially not without consulting me first." 

Quanyii sighed and crossed the room. She wrapped her arms around Caroline and propped her chin on her shoulder. "Okay," she said. "If you're really worried, then I'm sorry. But it's not  _my_  fault that I love you so much and it's hard for me to be without you."

Caroline surrendered to the urge to smile. She hugged Quanyii back and buried her face in her curls. "It was nice," she agreed. "Just this one time." 

"Mmm." Quanyii pulled back and kissed her again in that magical way. Caroline loved her madly. "It was, wasn't it? Now!" She grabbed the basket. "What do you want for dinner? I can chop up this radish, or we could have an entire loaf of bread?"

"I thought we were having soup."

"Oh sweets, that's so  _predictable_ , can't we have something else?" 

"And isn't it my night to cook?"

"No, it's my night."

"Quanyii, you just made dinner last night."

"That was two nights ago!"

"No, it was last night, because the leftovers are above the fire."

"Okayyyy, well, I'm going to cook anyway."

"No, darling. This battle I won't let you win." 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated! If you're interested in WLW week, there are still two days to post to the collection!
> 
> if i wrote a bouquet fic at some point in the distant future would anyone read it


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